


Turn the Pages, Pick a Song

by shinealightrose



Series: Piano Bar [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Jilted Groom, M/M, Sad Fluff, Wedding Pianist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 07:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4868327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yixing is hired for a wedding reception; he ends up playing instead for the jilted groom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turn the Pages, Pick a Song

There's nothing quite as depressing as a wedding gone wrong. A church decorated, ribbons and streamers cascading from windows and ceilings, flower sprays everywhere setting up a lovely fragrance in contrast to the mood of the party. It's an hour after the ceremony should have begun; the guests are gone, only a few family members stand around in small circles discussing the events of the day in hushed whispers. One very sad looking groom sits slumped over a bench because his bride never showed. 

Yixing has no business being here still. He's not family, not even a friend. He's just the pianist they hired last minute because the regular guy had to cancel. He rushed to practice the wedding march last night, quickly pulled up a few wedding friendly tunes this morning, and grabbed a fake book full of classic songs to play for a reception that is no longer going to happen. He should be going home. He gets paid for showing up either way, and he's already got his check. The poor groom's mother passed it to him already in a discrete envelope, a sad smile on her face as she thanked him for coming, so sorry he couldn't actually play.

Getting paid and going home isn't the problem, Yixing thinks, as he stands shyly in a corner alcove noting how depressed the groom is now sitting by himself. The man's suit makes him look handsome. His black hair is perfectly coifed. If he smiled, Yixing expects it would be glorious, maybe a little cheeky. Except all he sports now is a glum expression, not even crying anymore although his eyes are a little puffy. His sister approaches him; he waves her away.  _Give me a minute, thank you,_  Yixing reads off his lips. He's too far away for Yixing to actually hear. 

There's a problem here, and that's related to where the groom – his name is Junmyeon – is sitting, on the piano bench. Underneath that bench is the bag where Yixing keeps all his piano books, his keys, wallet and phone. He really can't go anywhere without them, but when he left earlier to use the restroom and wash his hands of the fact that the wedding is 'over,' he didn't expect to come back into the sanctuary and find the jilted groom leaning over the piano like his life as well was over. 

He's been trying to give the man some space, doesn't want to disturb him like this, but half an hour goes by and Junmyeon's still sitting there. Yixing has walked away and come back several times, too frightened to actually enter into the spaces the family occupies, or to approach the groom. He's been trying to be respectful.

Now though, almost everybody has left. The groom's mom and sister approach him again, and then leave without him. Junmyeon sits there, one arm resting on the closed piano, and Yixing really doesn't want to wait much longer. He coughs slightly, approaching him from behind, and when that doesn't draw the man's attention, he clears his throat a little louder.

“Excuse me,” he says.

Finally Junmyeon looks up. His eyes are red but dry. He looks startled to see someone still in the room with him, although he quickly sits up, licks his lips and blinks confusedly. “Yes? I'm sorry. Do you need me to leave?”

Yixing blinks down at him as well. Perhaps he's mistaken Yixing for someone on the staff, which isn't quite true. 

“Oh no, no, please, you don't need to leave. It's just... I came to fetch my things.” He extends an arm to where his music sits underneath the bench, and Junmyeon understands.

“Oh, you're the pianist. I'm sorry, I've been hogging your instrument.”

He looks genuinely concerned that he may be in the way, and Yixing feels compelled to reassure him. The man has just been left at the altar. Yixing has no idea what that feels like personally, but it can't be good. Why would someone ever leave such a sweet looking man as this? He wonders as he kneels down to retrieve his bag. 

“Oh, that's alright. It's not my instrument, really. It belongs here.”

“I'm sorry you weren't able to play,” says the man kindly. It's cute really, how Junmyeon sniffs and tries to smile. Yixing gets the feeling that he probably hadn’t needed to stay away for so long. The groom doesn't seem to be mad at him at all for interrupting his solitude. 

“That's ok- I mean, I- You...”

It's awkward, trying to converse with a man who probably thought he'd be married right about now. If Junmyeon thinks Yixing has been inconvenienced by not being able to play, Yixing has no idea how to turn that around without sounding insincerely sympathetic. He settles for shutting his mouth in case anything actually does offend the man. The man who looks now suddenly concerned over a matter far more trivial. “Did you get paid? I didn't even think about that! It's... not your fault the... wedding was...”

Yixing rushes to reassure him that's it's been taken care of. “Oh, don't worry, please. Your mother already- she... Are you alright?”

He doesn't know what presses him to suddenly ask the question. Something about the deadish sparkle in the jilted man's eyes, how they come alive, but only half so, reacting to Yixing's reassurances. How underneath his kind inquiries, he still looks like he's about to break but he's too strong to actually go ahead and do it. 

“I'm... I'll be okay.”

There's a whole world in a story that Yixing doesn't know, things he probably won't ever know. Why this man is sitting here alone, where his bride ran off to and why. Was it him? Was it her? It's no concern of Yixing's, and yet-

“Can I play for you?”

“What?” Junmyeon's voice is tiny in that moment. Yixing smiles.

“I was paid to play the piano. Shall I do something for you? Nothing cheesy. Just a few tunes, if you would like it?”

Junmyeon sniffs again, eyes wide open and a little stunned. Not repulsed though, Yixing is pleased to see. He may have overstepped himself, but there's something in him that suspects Junmyeon may not want to be alone. From his family and friends maybe, but Yixing is a stranger and they don't know anything about each other. There's nothing to judge between them. If it was Yixing, he knows there are times when a stranger's help is occasionally more comforting than a person who knows everything.

“Sure?” Junmyeon says, a little unsure.

Yixing smiles again, careful not to overdo it. He pulls out the heavy fake book with its hundreds of songs and chords. “What kind of music do you like? This thing has everything from 20s' show tunes to pop songs of the 90s.” He sets it up with a heavy thud on the piano stand as Junmyeon scoots over to the side of the bench, not getting up but allowing enough room for Yixing to sit down with a few inches in between.

“Can you play all of these songs?”

“I can hammer them out,” Yixing responds almost bashfully. 

“Okay,” Junmyeon says with a little chuckle. He flips through a few pages and stops, inclines a head at the pianist. “Is this okay?”

“Perfect,” says Yixing. It's an old tune, nothing romantic. A little fun, a little bouncy. Junmyeon sits with his hands in his lap, gaze on Yixing's hands as they move over the keys, and he says nothing, only smiles a little like he's trying hard not to be sad. Yixing glances at him every few bars to verify that this is still alright. That the groom isn't going to suddenly freak out and ask him to stop. But Junmyeon doesn't move except to shift his weight every so often, or to applaud him with nothing more than a smile and a hopeful grunt when Yixing finishes a song. Junmyeon flips a few more pages and lets Yixing play, the same thing dragging on for around fifteen or twenty minutes. 

When the organizers called and asked Yixing to play for a wedding, this isn't exactly what he had in mind, serenading a broken man with show tunes in an empty building. He can't say it's a bad job though. Restful almost, with only one person as his audience, and he doesn't have to worry about the selection because Junmyeon chooses for him. His fingers are on autopilot while his head worries only about how the groom is doing. No longer frowning, no longer sniffling. Dare Yixing call him halfway rejuvenated?

“Do you sing as well?”

“Hmm?” says Yixing, after he's played over the first bars to a new song. “Sometimes. Mostly I just like to play. Why? Do you want me to sing too?” he teases gently, catching Junmyeon's eyes once before he takes them away, back to the notes on the page.

“No, that's okay. I like your playing.”

Another song, another tune. After a while, Junmyeon doesn't flip the page and Yixing brings his hands back to his lap, looking to his right silently inquiring. The room sits in silence, just the faint whir of the lighting way overhead. It looks like such a pretty place, would have been a beautiful wedding. 

“Any more?” Yixing asks finally. 

“No, probably not. I should probably be going, actually.” Junmyeon looks suddenly glum. 

“You don't have to.”

“What about you though? You probably have other places to be, instead of sitting here babysitting me,” the groom chuckles.

Yixing shrugs. Of course there are things he could be doing. Going home, feeding his cat, deciding what he should eat for dinner later. None of that seems of any consequence now. He tries to convey that without words.

“What's your name, by the way?” Junmyeon asks. 

“Yixing.”

The man holds out his hand, still looking kind of amused. “I'm Junmyeon.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Yixing takes his hand, still smiling, lips pursed.

They shake hands as Junmyeon exhales. “Not a typical way to meet people, I'm guessing. But thank you for staying around... It was nice.”

“My pleasure,” says Yixing, and as the man's hand slides out of his grasp, he's surprised to note that he already kind of misses it. It'll be so anticlimactic to just go home now, knowing he'll probably never see this man again. Knowing there's no need to after this. Yixing's just the pianist, playing for a very unconventional reception. 

“I haven't seen my fiancé in two days,” Junmyeon says suddenly out of the blue.

Yixing tries to keep the surprise out of his voice, partly because  _he's just the pianist_  and here goes Junmyeon talking about himself. Secondly because, “Two... days?” 

“Well, two days since I  _saw_  her. I've  _spoken_  to her. Once yesterday, once today. This morning.”

Yixing has nothing to contribute, so he sits quietly, hands folded across his lap, eyes on Junmyeon's knees because the other man isn't making anything close to eye contact.

“Two days. So really, I might have seen this coming,” says Junmyeon softly with a tiny nod.

Dare Yixing ask? “W-Why?”

Junmyeon takes a breath, slowly exhales. “I told her I'd been with a man. Not recently, but... I dated a guy once. I guess I just wanted to come clean before, she was stuck with me. And I guess she wasn't okay with that. She just said, she needed to think about it first. This morning she was still thinking about it, so I didn't cancel. Hoping, you know? That it would be alright.”

Yixing dares one more thing. He puts a hand casually to Junmyeon's shoulder, not heavy at all. Just barely there, like he hopes by that one gesture Junmyeon will know Yixing wants him to be alright. 

The man smiles sheepishly, appreciative of even this little thing. “Thanks. Anyways, that's my sob story. How about you?”

“Me?” Yixing asks surprised. He takes his hand away after one more little pat. “I'm just normal. No story. I play piano here and there.”

“Weddings?”

“Not typically. I'm your backup pianist actually. Got a call last night, showed up today.”

“Pinch hitting for a wedding that isn't even happening?” Junmyeon laughs, a sweet sound that Yixing is glad to hear, especially under these circumstances. 

“I guess you could call it that.”

There is silence for a moment, then Junmyeon looks up. “Well I'm glad you came. You cheered me up a bit. Thank you.”

“It's no prob-” Yixing is about to tell him, when their attention is drawn to the door at the front of the church. For a moment Yixing thinks it might be Junmyeon’s fiancé, come to apologize maybe or take back her man. But it’s just a young woman poking her head in, the same girl Yixing had seen earlier speaking to Junmyeon.

“Bro? You still in here?” She takes a few steps on dainty heels, and Junmyeon stands up smiling. 

“Yeah,” he says, not looking at the pianist. “Is everybody leaving now?”

“Yes. Mom wants to know if you're ready to go home.”

“I'll be there in a sec.” 

She purses her lips in a slight smile, looks between her brother and Yixing, and then backs out the door. It shuts with a heavy click, spurring Yixing into standing up as well. He starts collecting his music books slowly, stuffing them into his bag while Junmyeon stands sheepishly on the other side of the bench. 

“My sister, Wendy,” he explains. 

“She's pretty,” says Yixing, still vaguely sad that Junmyeon is leaving. At least he looks a little better. If that's all Yixing can do, then he's happy.

“Yeah, she's a great girl. Do you have a girlfriend?”

Yixing chuckles. “Why, would you try to set me up with your sister?” 

“Maybe,” Junmyeon laughs as well. “Guy like you is almost too good to waste.”

It may be the best compliment Yixing's ever gotten. He preens a little, but is quick to answer, “Thanks but... not my type.”

“Oh really? Because, I have an older sister too. Still single.” He smirks at Yixing's grimace. “Two cousins as well?”

“Are your cousins also girls?”

“Yes.”

“Then, no.” 

Junmyeon nods, like he suddenly gets it. “Really? Well that's a shame...” It's just enough of a joke that Yixing smiles at him, a bit embarrassed they're even having this conversation, but then Junmyeon did kind of open up to him first. Yixing is going to miss this. 

“Hey, you know you don't have to add me to your family...” Yixing fumbles with a pocket on the side of his bag and pulls out a small business card. “If you think you'll miss my piano playing, this is where I work... You should come, sometime...” 

The smile he gets is almost blinding, exactly the kind of smile he figured Junmyeon would have if he wasn't so sad. There's still a bit of mourning left in the man's eyes, things he's going to have to get over. And maybe giving him his card isn't going to do the trick, but Yixing hopes... he really hopes that maybe Junmyeon will come sometime to visit him? Let Yixing play the piano for him one more time. 

“I... thank you. Yixing.” Junmyeon examines the card, smiles and pockets it, and safely pats the pocket like he holds a precious treasure. “I'll come visit you then.”

“I'm glad- good.” 

They shake hands one last time, exchange nice smiles, and then Junmyeon turns and walks down the aisle alone, to the door through which his sister disappeared, and Yixing remains alone. Nothing else to do now except gather his things and go home as well, hoping he'll see that man another time. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for Part 2 of this couple's story.


End file.
